The doctor who saw Jonathan Dew days before he was rushed to hospital from the Windsor jail with a collapsed lung and later died, told a coroner’s inquest Monday that the inmate appeared much thinner than he had on previous examinations but he was unaware just how sick Dew was becoming.

Dr. Christopher Peterson, the physician who treats jail inmates on a contract basis with the Ministry of Corrections, testified he saw the 26-year-old after he had been arrested on a minor probation violation and taken into custody at the Windsor jail Sept. 8, 2012. The general practitioner saw Dew about three days later for a routine examination in the sick bay.

He noted Dew was withdrawn, “not overly talkative” and seemed unwilling to share his medical concerns. Yet the doctor noted he was much thinner than when the two had encountered each other during Dew’s previous incarcerations at the jail. The doctor said he was concerned and ordered tests to “get to the issue of why he was losing so much weight” but Dew was reluctant to share information.

When asked by Elizabeth Brown, the lawyer representing the coroner’s office, whether it had been brought to his attention that Dew might have been suffering from diarrhea, vomiting or dehydration, the doctor replied, “not that I recall.” He testified he was also not informed that Dew had broken ribs and was suffering from breathing difficulties.

Pathologist Dr. Edward Tweedie leaves Superior Court of Justice during a break in the inquest into the death of Jonathan Dew Monday January 20, 2014. (NICK BRANCACCIO/The Windsor Star)

However, he added, treatment of prisoners in a correctional facility is “vastly different” than treating patients at a practice in the outside world. He noted that he routinely visited the institution two days a week, Tuesdays and Thursdays, between 9 a.m. and 11 a.m. and during that period could typically see about 50 to 60 patients, or half the jail population. In a family practice, he said, he might see 18 patients in a two- or three-hour period.

He testified that his findings on Dew were that he was adequately hydrated, that his cardiovascular condition was in the normal range and he had no respiratory issues that he could note. He added that Dew had come up two flights of stairs to get to the sick bay for the checkup. However blood work was ordered to determine possible reasons for Dew’s weight loss.

But on Sept. 12, Dew was found collapsed on the floor of his cell. He was transported to Hotel-Dieu Grace Hospital, where he was admitted in critical condition with a collapsed lung. He subsequently went into cardiac arrest and slipped into a coma, without visible life signs for about half an hour. He was transferred to a London hospital and placed on life support. He died there Sept. 21, with his family by his side.

Andrew Murray, the London lawyer representing the family, who made the trip to Windsor from their home in St. Thomas for the inquest, asked how Dew appeared to him during the examination compared to pictures taken of Dew on the day he collapsed.

“He was thinner, but again, he didn’t look in distress and he was able to walk and talk,” said Peterson. “Clearly,” he added, referring to the photograph, “he was not able to do that here.”

In earlier testimony, Dr. Edward Tweedie, the pathologist who performed the autopsy on Dew in the London Health Sciences Center, said his investigation revealed Dew initially suffered from a collapsed lung, leading to pneumothorax, a condition in which air escapes from the lung and becomes trapped in the chest cavity, putting pressure on other organs and displacing the diaphragm. That crisis was complicated when Dew went into cardiac arrest at hospital “and his condition went down rapidly.”

Tweedie concluded that even though Dew had three broken ribs on his left side, that did not cause the lung collapse because there was no puncture wound and the contusion was on the opposite side of his chest from where the right lung had collapsed.

He noted there was evidence of dehydration and signs Dew had been abusing street drugs, with injection p0ints on his body contaminated with impurities common among intravenous drug users. He noted that Dew also had a previous history of “spontaneous” lung collapse, a condition that is not uncommon.

Outside the courtroom Murray said the family, which has declined comment and has named the lawyer spokesman, was finding the process “emotionally overwhelming.” He said they were disturbed to hear the testimony that a doctor was available at the jail only two times a week when, typically, as much as half the jail population would need some kind of medical attention on a daily basis.

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